In the Wilderness: Cities of Refuge

Text: Numbers 35-9-33

Theme: God has provided a “City of Refuge” for all men in His son, Jesus Christ.

Throughout the world there are certain cities that, just the mention of their name conjures up mental images of landmarks or things associated with that city. Someone says Amsterdam and most people will think of “diamonds” and “cannels.” Mention Paris and we think of the “Eiffel Tower” and the “Left Bank” and the “Arc de Triomphe.” Say Beijing and we see in our mind’s eye The Forbidden City, and “The Tiananmen (T'ien-an Men) Square.” Moscow conjures up images of "The Kremlin," "Red Square" and "St. Basil's Cathedral."

America has its famous cities, too. Hollywood is associated with "movies" and a huge, "hill-side sign." San Francisco has "Fishermen's Wharf" and the "Golden Gate Bridge." Chicago has the "L" and the "Sear's Tower." New York has it's "Empire State Building," "Rockefeller Center," and "Times Square. St. Louis, has its "river" and the "Arch."

Ancient Israel had her symbolic cities as well. The cities of Kedesh, Schechem, Kiriatharba, Bezer, Ramoth, and Golan. Do any of these cities sound familiar to you? What are associated with these cities, you ask? The mercy of God. They are Cities of Refuge and were places where people could flee for their lives when the avenger of blood was after them.

These Cities of Refuge teach us something about God's justice, mercy and grace.

I. YAHWEH IS A GOD OF JUSTICE

“Then the LORD said to Moses: 10 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, 11 select some towns to be your cities of refuge, to which a person who has killed someone accidentally may flee. 12 They will be places of refuge from the avenger, so that a person accused of murder may not die before he stands trial before the assembly. 13 These six towns you give will be your cities of refuge.” (Numbers 35:9–13, NIV84)

1. any discussion of the Cities of Refuge is inextricably linked to an understanding of the sanctity of human life

a. all mankind is created in the image of God

“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:26–27, NIV84)

1) we are unique among all the Creator’s creatures; only men have the capacity for a relationship with God

a) only man has a soul

b) only man is created in the imago dei

c) only man has God’s protective hand on his life

b. for the believer there is only one race—the race of Adam

1) sadly, we now live in a nation so Biblically illiterate, so culturally polarized, that to state such biblical truth is, at the least, considered a “micro-aggression” and at the worst, as overt racism

ILLUS. Though differences in the human genome make us appear different outwardly, those differences are a result of a very minute portion of the genome: as a species we share 99.9% of our DNA with each other. Look at all the outward difference in those gathered here this morning ... a mere .1% of our genome results in those differences.

2. regardless of what the culture thinks, believers owe allegiance to biblical truth and not cultural correctness

a. cultural correctness changes (and right now it changes almost by the hour), but biblical correctness does not change

3. the biblical truth is, “red, yellow, black, and white, all are precious in His sight”

a. all are precious in Yahweh’s sight because all are created in His image

A. GOD’S JUSTICE DEMANDS A HIGH VIEW OF LIFE

1. if we are created in the image of God, then to wantonly take the life of a fellow image-bearer is a sin against that person’s Creator

a. Jeremiah 1:5 says that God knows us from the nano-second of our conception

b. in Psalm 139, the Psalmist praises God whom he says, “created my inmost being ... and knit me together in my mother’s womb”

2. the fundamental reason for God’s prohibition of murder is set out in Genesis

“And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. 6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.” (Genesis 9:5–6, NIV84)

a. our significance derives not from our quality of life, or our gifts and abilities, or our contributions to our family, or culture, but from our status as one created in God’s image

b. unfortunately “Imago dei lives matter” is not as catchy as some slogans, though it is infinitely more biblical

3. God’s Justice Demands a High View of Life

B. GOD’S JUSTICE DEMANDS LIFE FOR LIFE

“ “You shall not murder.” (Exodus 20:13, NIV84)

“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man." (Genesis 9:6, NIV84)

“For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4 For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.” (Romans 13:3–4, NIV84)

1. these verses are explicit—God, from the earliest of time, prohibited premeditated murder

a. life is to be cherished, preserved, and protected

b. as the author of life, only God has the authority to determine when one’s life should be forfeited

1) God is absolutely sovereign over every aspect of human existence, from conception to the grave and beyond

2. yet, when one human—with malice—takes another human’s life, God’s justice says the life of the murderer shall be forfeited (Numbers 35:16-21)

a. even then, there are to be precautions ... six essential principles

1) Proportionality

a) Exodus 21:23-25 establishes that punishment must be proportional to the offense

ILLUS. We look at an eye-for-an-eye justice through the eyes of modern culture and consider it as barbaric. In reality it was actually a means of establishing legal balance. If you put out one of my eyes, I didn’t have the right to retaliate by putting out both of yours. If I accidently break your hand, you don’t get to break both my legs.

b) in sanctioning the death penalty, it should be considered only in the most serious offenses

2) Certainty of Guilt

a) before a murderer could be executed, two witnesses had to confirm his guilt (Deut. 17:6; Num. 35:30)

1) the Bible says nothing of circumstantial evidence

b) this was a very high standard of proof ... witnesses were held responsible for the consequences of their testimony, encouraging truthfulness

3) Intent

a) as we will see in a moment, Numbers 35:22-24 established that capital punishment could not be imposed when the offender did not act intentionally

4) Due Process

a) several provisions of the Law ensured that executions took place only after appropriate judicial procedures

b) the issue was not simply whether the accused was guilty, but whether he also had a fair chance to prove his innocence

5) Equal Treatment Under the Law

a) Numbers 35:31-32 tells us that those with wealth or wealthy friends could not buy their freedom

6) Reluctance to Execute

a) to many 21st century ears the Law may sound bloodthirsty, but it was applied with great restraint

b) in Ezekiel 33:11 God laments, "As sure as I live . . . I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live."

c) Yahweh Himself was reluctant to impose the death penalty, preferring that the wrongdoers repent

3. God’s View of Justice Demands a High View of Life, but Also a Life for a Life

C. GOD’S JUSTICE DEMANDS MERCY

1. Israel, at this time in their history, was an honor culture

a. almost nothing was more important than the honor of one’s family, and one’s own personal honor

ILLUS. This is why the story of the Prodigal Son that Jesus told centuries later was such a shock to his listeners. The culture of that day would have called for the shunning, and disinheritance of the younger son who disrespected the father, and brought dishonor upon the family. Instead, in Jesus’ story, the father runs to embrace the son and restore him to full rights of sonship. This was unheard of!

2. because this was an honor society, Moses lived in an era when retribution was the order of the day

"But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise." (Exodus 21:23-25, NIV)

a. in that day, the Israelites had no public institutions like police, courts, lawyers or penitentiaries for enforcing justice

3. it was the custom of that day that if a member of your family was killed or murdered a member of the family clan—called the avenger of blood—had the responsibility for seeking retribution and avenging his relative's death

a. ah, but there was a problem

b. the norms of that day made almost no distinction between intentional murder and unintentional killing in an accident

ILLUS. In Deuteronomy 19 we are given an example of why Israel needed cities of refuge. Suppose a man and his friend go into the forest to cut wood, and on the back swing of the man with the ax, the head of the ax slips off the handle, striking the man’s friend in the head, killing him. In 2020 we would consider this a tragic accident. You might have trouble facing your neighbor's family, but you would have little to fear from them. But in ancient Israel, your friend’s death would be your responsibility and chances are good that the avenger of blood would be hot on your heals.

c. family honor demanded that the victim's death be avenged with the dispatching of the one responsible for the death

d. BUT God sees unintentional manslaughter as entirely different than premeditated murder, even though men might not

ILLUS. This is not a mute point as the last two weeks have revealed. Did police officer Derek Chauvin kill George Floyd intentionally or unintentionally? This is why we have grand juries, indictments, discovery, and trials, rather than the vigilante justice so many seem to be demanding.

4. to make justice possible, God instructed Moses, and later Joshua, to establish six Cities of Refuge

a. these were to be towns of asylum for those who had accidently killed someone to flee from the avenger of blood

b. their purpose was to aid the accused in escaping the victim's family or friends in their quest for vengeance, while giving time for facts to be established, and truth to be discovered

ILLUS. In regard to the George Floyd case, the legal system is Derek Chauvin’s “city of refuge” where he will have safety until he is tried and a jury decides his fate.

5. God’s View of Justice Demands a High View of Life, And A Life for a Life, But Tempers Judgment With Mercy If The Death Penalty Is Not Warranted

II. YAHWEH IS A GOD WHO PROVIDES A PLACE OF REFUGE

1. the Cities of Refuge remind us that God is interested in truth and mercy as well as justice

a. in His wisdom, God established these cities as a place of sanctuary—a place to find grace—where the accused could stay and find safety from those who would seek his death

b. these Cities of Refuge were Cities of Mercy

c. these were cities where men could find refuge from the “avenger of blood”

2. the goal was to prevent innocent blood from being shed and to guarantee God’s people avoided becoming guilty of bloodshed

a. in the long-run it prevented family or clan feuds from getting out of hand, and creating anarchy in Jewish society

ILLUS. In America, there’s simply no feud more noteworthy than the legendary conflict between West Virginia’s Hatfield family and Kentucky’s McCoys, which has come to be the most famous historical example of the destructive power of vendettas. The differences between the wealthy Hatfields and the more working class McCoys started during the Civil War. The feud escalated in 1878, when a dispute over ownership of a pig ended with the McCoys killing one of the Hatfields. From here, the conflict escalated into an all-out war, with both sides regularly perpetrating killings, beatings, and kidnappings against the other. The feud reached its bloody peak in 1888 when, on New Year’s Night, a group of Hatfields attacked the McCoy cabin in the middle of the night, killing two children, beating their mother half-to-death, then burning down the house.

3. in Israel, if someone accidently killed another person, the manslayer (that’s what they were called) would flee to a City of Refuge

a. the gates of these cities were to be always open, the roads kept clear, and the way to the cities clearly marked

1) no one in all of Israel was more than thirty-five miles away from one of these cities

b. at the city gate the manslayer would plead his case, and if the elders of the city felt it had merit, the manslayer would be give sanctuary until a trial could be arranged

c. the trial would take place in the manslayer’s village to determine if the death was intentional or unintentional

d. if the death was ruled premeditated, then the manslayer was turned over to the avenger of blood for execution

e. if the death was found to be unintentional the manslayer would be given safe passage back to the City of Refuge where he would remain for the rest of his life or the death of the High Priest, whichever came first

1) if he left the city before the death of the high priest, he took his life in his own hands, and was “fair game” for the avenger of blood

2) at the death of the High Priest, however, the manslayer could return to his own village without fear of retribution

4. God’s provision of cities of refuge shows God’s love of mercy as well as His love of justice

III. THE APPLICATION

1. and the people said, “So what?”

a. what are we to learn from this?

2. the Cities of Refuge are a beautiful picture of the mercy we find in Christ, in whom sinners find a refuge from the avenger of blood

a. just as the guilty person sought refuge in the cities set up for that purpose, we flee to Christ for refuge from sin

“so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.” (Hebrews 6:18, ESV)

A. ALL MEN ARE SINNERS AND THE AVENGER OF BLOOD IS AFTER US

1. now some of you are going to say, "Wait a moment, pastor, God has an avenger of blood?"

a. yep, He sure does—it's God's Moral Law

b. it's His righteous requirement that we fully measure up to His character, His holiness, His commands, statutes, and ways

1) the law of God demands that the man who would approach God must be holy and pure and perfectly blameless

"Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false." (Psalm 24:3-4, NIV)

2) but here’s the problem ... none of us measure up to His character, His holiness, His commands, statutes, and ways

c. can the Law of God give us clean hands and a pure heart?

1) absolutely not

2) in fact, the Law of God actually reveals now desperately sinful we really are

"The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more," (Romans 5:20, NIV)

2. God has decreed that sin deserves the punishment of physical death and eternal death in the Lake of Fire

a. the whole world stands guilty before God

b. no one—not you or I or our neighbors—can ever measure up to God's standards

c. God's law of righteousness is—like the avenger of blood—hot on our heals demanding our death

3. why does the righteousness of God demand our death?

a. our crime is that we have killed our own innocence

b. we’ve all slain righteousness and left holiness dead in the street with our fingerprints all over the knife in its back

c. we’re guilty and we must flee for refuge for our soul

4. without a place of refuge there is no hope

B. IN CHRIST, GOD HAS JUDGED OUR SIN AND OFFERS FORGIVENESS

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8, NIV)

1. there is no way you can be good enough to get into God's heaven on your own

2. but God has solved our problem for us

a. like the Cities of Refuge God has made possible a sanctuary for those who would flee to Jesus

"He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification." (Romans 4:25, NIV)

”Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," (Romans 5:1, NIV)

1) in Christ, God declares you not guilty and places you under His protection

2) once you accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, His blood covers you and protects you from the wrath of God

"Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! (Romans 5:9-10, NIV)

b. the theological term for this is justification

1) it simply means that, in Christ, you are declared "just" by God, that is "not guilty"

2) it's as if you were standing before a judge, guilty to the max, but he dismisses all charges against you

c. when you're born again, God declares you not guilty

d. the avenger of blood no longer has power to slay you

3. the city of refuge is a word picture of something we can apply to our lives today

a. it is a picture of the Lord, Jesus Christ

1) He is the only place where you can find forgiveness and justification

2) His blood is the only remedy for your sin

3) your life, lost in His, is the only way you can be set free

C. GOD'S MERCY ABOUNDS TO ALL AND IS EASY TO FIND

1. the six cities of refuge were all strategically located so that no one had difficulty quickly finding refuge

a. there were two in the north of the country, two in the south, and two in the central region

b. there were three on the west side of the Jordan river and three on the east side

2. from anywhere in the country, it was only a thirty-mile walk to a city of refuge

a. God made sure that the cities were easily accessible

3. this is a symbol that God's mercy is available to all and easy to find

a. for the sinner your “city of refuge” is as close as faith in Christ

“because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” (Romans 10:9–10, ESV)

D. GOD'S PEOPLE HAVE A HAND IN EXTENDING GOD'S GRACE

1. Jewish tradition says that one day out of every year the people who inhabited the cities of refuge were sent out to repair the roads, clear the stones, and see that the signposts that directed one to the city were legible and clearly pointed the way

2. the point, I hope is obvious

a. Christians are to make the way of salvation clear to the world around them

1) we must cease to be stumbling stones to others

2) our lives must be swept clear

3) our conduct must clearly point the way to Jesus

If you have never received Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, the avenger of blood is hot on your heels. One of these days he is going to catch you. If you have failed to place your trust in Jesus as your city of refuge there is no hope for you. But, if you come to Him today, His blood—shed for the forgiveness of your sin—will cleanse you from all unrighteousness.